Mason had trouble sleeping again, not because of the thought of the odd figure but because he could hear constant scratching across the wooden floors of the house. It was around three in the morning when he heard a loud clanging sound coming from the kitchen. Mason jumped out of bed and bolted to the kitchen to try to catch whatever was causing all the noise. When he got to that room, he found a bunch of pots and pans he had left on the counter on the floor. He looked up and caught a brief glimpse of what looked liked a grey and black lion tail leaving the room as it disappeared behind the corner. He could hear the loud sound of scratching as it began to fade as the tail disappeared. He quickly followed the tail and sounds to the basement where the door shut behind it.

He tried to open the door again to continue his pursuit, but it seemed to have locked itself somehow. He banged on the door, kicked it, even tried to ram it with his arm and shoulder, but the old wooden door didn't budge. He couldn't get it open no matter what he tried and that confused him greatly: "How did this happen?" Mason asked himself out loud, "I mean this shouldn't be possible! Like did a mutated lion just sneak into my house and lock itself in the basement?"

The exhausted man let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed his face sleepily. He stumbled back to his room in defeat and collapsed on to his bed. Surprisingly, he had managed to fall asleep pretty easily after the whole ordeal. When it came to be six in the morning, his alarm blared an annoying sound to wake up Mason, but with no use. The man just groaned tiredly and lazily slapped the snooze button before going back under the bed's warm covers to sleep in, but something harshly prevented him from falling back to sleep. The scratching sound was back and he felt something land on his chest. He woke up thinking the odd event last night was just a dream, but the scratching proved otherwise. He groggily looked up to see the strange key just sitting there on his chest. He wondered how that got there; it was like someone threw it at him but no one else was here. He yawned as he got out of bed taking the key with him, and slowly shuffled out of his room to the basement door.

He hesitated when going to unlock the door, wondering if it would be a good idea after that glimpse of what could be down here last night. He took a breath and fought his fears as he put the key in the lock and turned it. The door slowly opened towards Mason with an eerie creaking sound. He stepped back a bit, away from the opening door, and starred down into the dark basement. He slowly started his descent into the dark place, each wooden step giving a loud creak under his weight as he made his way down and a horrid smell reached his nose. It kind of smelled like a bathroom where someone forgot to flush; it was disgusting.

He reached the bottom and he could almost hear a low growling sound. Not the kind of growling you'd hear a dog make, but more like someone was hungry. He walked blindly in the dark until he felt something lightly hit his face. Startled, he screamed and swatted it away until he realized it was just a string probably connected to a light. He mentally slapped himself for screaming at something as simple as a light switch. He pulled the yellowed string and the lights came on and briefly blinding him. The light was dim, but it did the job of lighting up the old dark basement. There were a ton of boxes, a couple of old tables, there was even an old pool table, and everything was covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.

His breath got caught in his throat as he heard that growling sound again, but this time it was coming from right behind him. That's when he felt puffs of hot air gently blowing on top his dark brown hair. With his knees shaking under him and his heart pounding in his chest, Mason slowly turned his head to see what the hell was behind him. His face met a grey-furred chest, he had to tilt his head up to look at the creature's face which was looking down on him. This thing's face had grey fur with long deep yellow markings under its eyes down its cheeks, it's left eye was golden while the other was light blue both of them being like cat eyes, it had black hair that seemed to turn into a short black mane on the back of its neck, and it had long ears on the sides of its head. It also seemed to be giving him a toothy smirk with sharp teeth. The neighbors were right; there really is a monster living in this house!

Mason screamed at the horrifying sight and tried to run away from this monster, but it pounced him and had him pinned to the floor with its lanky grey arms, with ring markings the same color as the ones on its face, and its tight grip with its clawed hands. The beast moved its head closer to Mason's and started talking in a gruff voice, almost sounding like Scar from the Lion King, "Don't leave now, you only just got here. I'm surprised you came down here so soon. Took the last owner a month to finally investigate."

"W-what.. what did you do to him? Where is he now? What are you going to do to me?" Mason shouted trying to get a hold of his situation. The beast purred and jerked his head in a direction, "The previous owner? Right over there." Mason looked in the direction the beast gestured and saw a large pile of human and animal bones, along with a few smaller piles of literal shit. That explained the smell. The monster continued speaking, "He was quite delicious if you ask me and I bet you'll be pretty good too... if you refuse my offer that is."

"Wh-what offer...?"

"Shhh listen, you hear that?"

Mason shut his mouth and listened; he could hear his pounding heart but he also heard that growl again.

"I'm pretty hungry and my last full meal was ten years ago and I can't leave this house thanks to the owner fifty years ago; he bounded me to this house before I devoured him. So, I was hoping you'd comply with my demands, unlike the last owner. All I want you to do is feed me and I won't eat you alive or bite your limbs off before tearing into your guts and devour your intestines like spaghetti."

Mason audibly gulped down the vomit that was threatening to come up his throat and fearfully stared at this monster. Suddenly it let out a hyena-like laugh then saying, "Oh where are my manners? The name's Banehound, otherwise known as the beast in the plains, or I guess in my current situation the beast in the basement." Banehound got off of Mason and let him get up, but blocked his only escape route. The man slowly sat up and had a better look at this Banehound guy.

He was very tall and quite thin, grey fur covered his entire body, he had a three yellow stripe markings on his sides, he had large paws with large yellow claws, he wore a long piece of cloth with a bunch of tribal-like markings attached to a string around his waist, and his long lion-like tail twitched with anticipation. The beast seemed to be waiting for a reply, "M-Mason... Mason Fi-Finch..." he finally told Banehound who laughed again before saying, "Finch huh? I think I'll call you Birdie. So then little Birdie, do you agree to my terms? Or would you rather be eaten and never see your loved ones again?"